Writing Tips - Cliffhangers (Don't Use 'Em)
So how do you use the proverbial cliffhanger in your creative work? You don't. Ever. Seriously, don't use cliff-angers. That may seem a little blunt, but there's no trope that's abused and misused as a cliff-hanger and when done wrong (as are 95% of them) there is no trope that causes as much ire and anguish. Personally I think that there is only one scenario where you can use a cliffhanger: at the end of a chapter of a novel THAT YOU INTEND TO FINISH. Do not use a cliffhanger in a movie, even if it's Part 2 of an intended trilogy. Do not use it at the end of a television episode, unless it is a two parter and the second part has already been made and slated to air. I know it seems counter-intuitive for an informative piece on a creative medium to say that you shouldn't flat out use something, but the "cliffhanger" needs to die in all but literature, and even then it's situational. It's the creative equivalent to the lobotomy. Let's get the elephant out of the room first. Here is a comprehensive list of the cliffhangers that have never been resolved: web.archive.org/web/2014040505…. There are a lot, and if you're going to make a cliffhanger you need to be 100% okay with that cliffhanger never being resolved and 100% certain that 100% of your audience will be satisfied with it. If it sounds like guaranteed disappointment, it is. In very, very novice works, it seems that creators think that having a cliffhanger gaurentees a resolution. It doesn't. Unless you are in total control of your work (pretty much you're self publishing on a non-collaborative effort) there is no gaurentee that it will get a resolution. Not even if it's the first part of a season finale on a popular television show. Not even if its the first part of the SERIES finale on a popular television show. And yes, I can pull examples up on this. For the series finale one, the first thing that comes to my mind is the series finale of Alf. The first part of the two-part series finale that ended on a cliffhanger was the last one to ever air because the network screwed them over. For you to be certain that this will play out, your network needs to love your show more than Nickelodeon loves Spongebob. Beyond the cautionary warnings I can give, there's two more reasons that I don't like cliffhangers—they can be a crutch, and they tend to show laziness or incompetence on the creator's part. Let's start with the crutch. If people are only coming back to see the resolution of your cliffhangers, then you've failed. What you've essentially done is told people that they can only see the ending of the story that you've already started if they come back next time. People should come back because they like your characters, or stories, or jokes, or setting. Not because you've withheld a vital piece of the story. If your story was too frustrating, the cliffhanger is the final punch to the face that will ensure your audience will never come back. And that brings me to my next point: a cliffhanger is NOT a substitute for an ending. Hello, Pirates of the Carribean 2. Whether you have a cliffhanger or not, the conflict in whatever episode or movie that you've established needs to get resolved in some way, shape, or form. If a guy needs an antidote to save his life, it's not a cliffhanger if the antidote is in someone else's hand by the end and the director promises he'll get it back next time. It's a cliffhanger when he gets the antidote, it seems to save his life, but it starts changing him into a monster or something. If you're doing your job completely right then an unresolved cliffhanger can write itself off easily as a twist ending because in a twist ending, the main conflict has to be resolved as well—it's just that the resolution is something different than the audience expects (keep in mind that it still has to be plausible, but we're getting off topic here). To pull off of a recent example of why the cliffhanger idea is just a plain stupid one, imagine if the Gravity Falls episode "He's Not What He Seems" was the last one ever aired. That's it, that's the finale. I mean, if it's the first part of a two parter, it's probably okay, even though there is literally no resolution on anything established in the episode. The cliffhanger doesn't add tension, it adds frustration. If you're relying on a cliffhanger you may be inclined to add too much plot to an episode because you "don't have to worry about the resolution." If every single trope is a tool, than the cliffhanger is a jackhammer. It can destroy the delicate nuances of any good story, and pretty much 90% of terrible, terrible endings are the result of unanswered cliffhangers. Do not use a cliffhanger in your work. Even if you're planning you're going to resolve it at some point. There are plenty of chances that you won't. You could entirely lose interest. You could be afraid that the resolution isn't as interesting, and yes, if you do use a cliffhanger your new ending must be twice as good as the last one because people have been waiting twice as long, so it needs to be twice as satisfying. And that's if you're in control at all. Your company or network may cancel your show. Your collaborative partner might not be satisfied with it and just quit. Your company could go out of business because the "no ending" of your latest project killed all interesting. And yes, all of these are based on actual examples. To be totally honest, the cliffhanger is like a "master level" trope, it should not be done in your first work when you're in the "I'm going to write this and it's gonna be awesome enough to make a franchise out of." I should know, I was in that phase too. And to prove I'm not just talking out of my ass here I'm going to link you to one of my older works on my old deviant art page for Brovania. It's 40,000 words and it ends on a cliffhanger that isn't resolved. Also, "Epic! The Humorous RPG" was made when I was in high school. That was my writing then. This was written when I was in Junior High School. I am going to tell you nothing else about the work itself. I'm not even going to make ask you if you're more apt to read it. I'm going to ask, are you more apt to read the sequel? Category:Miscellaneous